This morning during the Children’s Sermon, we added the figures of Mary and Joseph to the nativity scene. Time and time again over the past few weeks, as we’ve added more and more figures to the nativity scene, we’ve impressed upon the kids the broad scope of all those who were waiting for this Savior: as we placed the animals, we talked about how all of Creation had been yearning for a Savior; as we placed the shepherds and wise men, we talked about how all kinds of people need a Savior; as we placed the angel, we talked about how all of the heavenly beings have been watching for the Savior. This full and long experience of waiting is shared by all of Creation - animals, humans, and angelic beings; from supernovas millions of lightyears away to the bacteria living in your gut. All of Creation stands amazed at this moment, as the Creator wraps himself with Creation, declaring his kingdom come.
But though everything was yearning for God’s coming, and though his Kingdom is truly universal, Mary and Joseph won’t let us forget that Jesus’ arrival was intensely personal. Jesus was conceived within Mary’s womb. He shared her DNA. As he grew within her, Mary experienced morning sickness and round ligament pain and a sore back and cravings, not to mention the worries and anxiety about whether everything would go okay. Joseph, too, was deeply affected: the expectation of a simple, good life with Mary was flipped on its head by God’s Son growing in his fiancee’s belly. It’s scary enough to care for your own child, much less to try to care for and protect and teach and raise God’s. When the child who is the Hope of the Universe is kicking your bladder, is causing contractions, is being born and taking his first breaths and crying and is wholly dependent on you for food, warmth, and love, God’s plan of salvation becomes intensely personal. It’s not a thing you can hold at a distance, He’s there in your arms, staring you in the face, demanding more than you ever thought you could give.
We’ll come back to this theme of the intensely personal connection with Jesus in a moment, but first I would like to share with you Mary’s prophetic words from Luke 1 as she enters her pregnant relative Elizabeth’s home months before the birth of Jesus. John leapt in Elizabeth’s womb at the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth poured out blessing on “the mother of [her] Lord”, and Mary let loose a song for the ages. Listen for the Word of the Lord.
And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.”
Earlier this week, I read someone pondering how our understanding of biblical womanhood would change if we took this scene seriously, where two pregnant women celebrate God’s pending overthrow of the world order. Mary cheers on God, as he reaches out in love and mercy to those whose hearts and hopes are set on him, to those mindful of their own smallness, to those who are hungry and poor, and as he scatters those who are proud, unceremoniously dumps the rulers out of their thrones, and sends the rich away empty handed. As hilarious as it might be to picture Mary and Elizabeth as gleefully plotting revolutionaries, Mary does remind us of a truth that is far too easy to forget: the world as it stands today, ruled by the proud, the arrogant, the greedy, the selfish, and the egotistical, is not how it was meant to be; God’s kingdom, when it is fully established, will flourish under the administration of the humble and those who long to serve him by compassionately caring for his people.
What do Mary’s words mean for us today? Are they just some kind of hippie pipe dream, or merely a glimpse of heaven one day? No. They’re an invitation to join in the work of establishing God’s kingdom in this world. Not by some sort of armed revolution or militant takeover or political maneuvering and backroom dealing, those are the ways of this flawed world. Instead, by humbly embracing God, deeply mindful of our own poverty and dependance on him, we begin to fulfill our roles in God’s kingdom even as we live and breathe today. We become merciful, as he is merciful. We become loving, as he is loving. We’re no longer fooled by the pursuit of pride and arrogance and meanness. Instead, our hearts become tuned to give, because we have received so richly from God’s hand.
In Mary and Joseph, we see not only a broad, universal need for a Savior, but we see the profound personal impact of Jesus’ coming into the world. Just as this woman and this man had their lives rocked and turned upside down by the arrival of the Christchild, so our own lives will be rocked and turned upside down by his arrival within us. Instead of hoarding treasures for ourselves, we provide for those in need. Instead of reminding ourselves of the ways we’ve been hurt, we forgive, and then we comfort those who have experienced the same kind of hurt we have. Instead of puffing ourselves up, we sit down with the sick, the lonely, the unstable, the sad and we listen, and we pray, and by God’s grace we heal. Because on Christmas day, that’s what Jesus, God in the flesh, did for each one of us. Amen.
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